1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a flow channel member, a liquid ejecting head, a liquid ejecting apparatus incorporating the liquid ejecting head, and a liquid reservoir mountable on the flow channel member, and particularly relates to a technique efficiently applicable to a flow channel member, a liquid ejecting head, and a liquid ejecting apparatus, having a sealing member for maintaining liquid tightness between the flow channel member and a liquid reservoir removably mounted on the flow channel member.
2. Related Art
A typical liquid ejecting head for discharging liquid droplets includes an ink jet recording head for discharging ink droplets. For example, JP-A-2007-015272 has proposed, for example, an ink jet recording head having a head body for discharging ink droplets from a nozzle port, and a channel member, to which a head body is secured and to which an ink cartridge (a liquid reservoir) for storing the ink is removably arranged, for supplying the ink from the ink cartridge to the head body.
According to JP-A-2007-015272, a supply section composed of a pressing portion formed of a porous material or the like is arranged on an ink cartridge and pressed against a filter arranged in an installation section of a flow channel member, thereby interconnecting the ink cartridge and the flow channel member. In this case, it is necessary to prevent water in ink from evaporating and to prevent thickening of the ink, which in turn affects ink discharge. To this end, an enclosed space is formed in the periphery of the supply section of the ink cartridge and the filter. That is, an annular sealing member is disposed in the periphery of the installation section including an opening having the filter disposed therein, and the lower end face of a leg portion annularly projecting from the ink cartridge abuts a top plane portion of the sealing member, whereby predetermined liquid tightness is maintained.
According to the sealing member disclosed in JP-A-2007-015272, an inner leg portion adjacent to the installation section and an outer leg portion located away from the installation section project from the both edges of the top plane portion in the direction away from the ink cartridge to make a concave cross-sectional shape. Connecting portions between the top plane portion and the inner leg portion and between the top plane portion and the outer leg portion make a right angle.
In JP-A-2007-015272, as described above, since the connecting portions of the top plane portion to the inner leg portion and the outer leg portion of the sealing member make a right angle, repeated attaching and detaching of an ink cartridge causes the stress from the pressing load acting on the top plane portion of the sealing member via the leg portions of the ink cartridge to be concentrated on the connecting portions thereby causing the top plane portion to sag downward, thereby decreasing the adhesion with the ink cartridge.
Thickening the sealing member improves such creep resistance; however, it adversely increases the reaction force acting from the sealing member on the ink cartridge. Therefore, it has a limitation in this respect.
Further, these problems exist not only in the flow channel member used in the liquid ejecting head such as the ink jet recording head, but also in flow channel members used in devices other than a liquid ejecting head.